In constructing buildings, especially high-rise buildings, the scaffolding can be enormously expensive. It is bulky to transport to the construction site. In addition, it is expensive and time consuming to construct the scaffolding around the building. This is especially true for high rise buildings where scaffolding typically has to be built up from the ground and rise up as the building is completed. The need for additional scaffolding as high rise buildings are constructed from the ground up has led to the development of a number of scaffolding devices that are intended to be suspended from portions of the structure itself rather than supported from the ground.
The following U.S. patents disclose scaffolding devices which are suspended from the building structure itself rather than from the ground: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,558,425; 2,882,101; 3,595,510; 4,122,916; 4,452,366; 4,673,060 and 4,957,185.
Some of the aforementioned patents disclose devices that lack portability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,558,425 is not capable of being easily broken down and transported. Others, while foldable for easier transport, lack versatility in that they are configured only to support the worker adjacent a vertical post of the structure or to hang the worker suspended on the scaffolding from a pitched roof. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,882,101 discloses a scaffold bracket assembly designed to project laterally from vertically-oriented concrete forms. Moreover, the '101 patent discloses members that are foldable with respect to one another--that is, pivotally mounted one to the other.
None of the above-referenced patents, however, nor none of the prior art discloses a scaffolding device that is capable of being easily transported while being sufficiently versatile to either hang from a beam or rafter of the structure itself or to support itself laterally away from a vertical post comprising the structure itself.
Applicant provides a novel scaffolding device which combines the advantages of light weight, portability and versatility to provide for a scaffolding device which is capable of supporting a worker from the building structure itself rather than from the ground.